A bipartisan group of lawmakers including Texas Rep. Steve Stockman have joined together in a renewed effort for the pardoning of the first black heavyweight champion of professional boxing, Jack Johnson.

Stockman, a Republican from Friendswood, is a House co-sponsor and tweeted his support for the measure yesterday.

“Jack Johnson was a legendary competitor who defined an era of American boxing and raised the bar for all American athletics,” Reid, a former boxer himself, declared in a statement. “Johnson’s memory was unjustly tarnished by a racially-motivated criminal conviction, and it is now time to recast his legacy. I am pleased to work with my colleagues in both the Senate and House to formally restore Johnson’s name to the full stature and dignity he deserves.”

Jackson was imprisoned for his relationship with a white woman. He was convicted under the Mann Act, which prohibited taking women across state lines for “immoral purposes.” The act was an effort to to prevent human trafficking and the use of women for prostitution, but most historians today believe Jackson was wrongfully prosecuted in an attempt to strongly discourage interracial relationships between black men and white women.

Jackson became the first African American world heavyweight champion in 1908, a title he held until 1915. McCain and King have fought for Jackson to be pardoned since 2004. The cause has won bipartisan support from fellow lawmakers but has yet to be taken up by Obama.

“We can never completely right the wrong perpetrated against Jack Johnson during his lifetime, but this pardon is a small, meaningful step toward acknowledging his mistreatment before the law and celebrating his legacy of athletic greatness and historical significance,” McCain said.

After decades of historical neglect, Johnson’s story was brought to Broadway in 1969 in “The Great White Hope,” an acclaimed play that brought its stars, James Earl Jones and Jane Alexander, to acting prominence. In 2004, filmmaker Ken Burns released a documentary on Jack Johnson entitled “Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson,” on PBS. In November 2012, a statue of the boxer was unveiled in Galveston at Jack Johnson Park.